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The Declaration: Just Do One Thing

For the last few days, I’ve been at the Coleman Institute Conference on Technology for People with Cognitive Disabilities near Boulder, Colorado . I’m proud that The Arc helped to launch the Declaration of Rights for People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access, a stunning Jeffersonian document written by a small group of dedicated thought leaders in technology and cognitive disabilities. This document, which is available in several versions to ensure equal access to diverse readers at http://www.colemaninstitute.org/declaration, firmly reminds the United States and the world that communications platforms are public domains and therefore need to be accessible for all.

Why is this so important? Imagine, if you will, being unable to use your cellphone, computer and internet, ATMs and electronic banking, online job application forms, online insurance, health information, emergency information, weather, local community information… and anything else you access through electronic or wireless means. Imagine that while you might have the equipment, the languages and instructions that are used in all of these platforms are written in a confusing language that you don’t understand, maybe in words that are too small or which you can’t see clearly and which demand speed in processing that are too fast for you to react to. Now imagine (this is the easy part) that these platforms are how the world around you communicates with and operates upon. But because the platforms upon which the communications are built are not written into your language and communication needs, there is no way for you to move in this social space. You are, as a result, wholly dependent on someone else to help you translate the information you need to know. This is largely the current reality for people with cognitive disabilities in terms of technology and information.

People with cognitive disabilities include those with intellectual disabilities, Alzheimer’s, traumatic brain injury, some psychiatric disorders. While these impairments are the reality for this population, it does not mean that they should by virtue of their impairment be forever excluded from the public communications domain or marginalized as full citizens of this world. They deserve equal access to technology and information that support public communication and which have become a mainstay of social interaction. The Declaration states without apology that technology and information must be accessible to all, not just to those who can read or process or be physically adept in seeing, hearing, and typing to interact with this system. There is a sense of urgency to this because cloud-based communication platforms are solidifying rapidly, and if we don’t take action now, people with diverse communication needs risk being forever excluded.

And we can’t let that happen.

The Arc has been working on this Declaration with other thought leaders in cognitive disabilities and technology to ensure that the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are included in this new social movement. The Arc and now 57 organizations and even more individuals have formally endorsed the Declaration. I urge each of you to go online and read it yourself. The more people sign on, the more visibility, awareness, and power this movement will gain to advance accessibility in the new cloud based communications and information field. Here’s one more thing: Earlier this week, our small group of thought leaders went around the room and promised to do at least one thing to advance this social movement. As you read this, I ask you to do one thing as well to help us advance this important cause. Perhaps you will review the Declaration and endorse it, or perhaps to send this to your personal networks. Or maybe you can print it off and hang it in your office or send it to your child’s teacher or bring it to your local wireless communications provider. Maybe you’ll write your own blog, post it on Facebook, tweet it out, talk about it in a staff meeting, or simply think about ways to help while you tend your late summer garden… the list of possibilities of what you can do is endless, just as the possibilities of how this modest document might change the world for people with cognitive disabilities.